Kirby is the titular pink puff and main protagonist of Nintendo's Kirby series of video games named after him. The series has been running for over two decades, and nearly thirty titles have been released under Kirby's name, most of which are developed by HAL Laboratory, Inc. or published by HAL for co-developing studios.

Kirby has been featured in his own anime series, many manga publications in several countries, and even an educational video co-starring Mario. The Kirby series is frequently merchandised by Nintendo, although most of its products are only released in Japan.

Kirby lives in his dome-shaped home in Dream Land, a country on his home planet Planet Popstar. His adventures take him throughout Dream Land and occasionally into local star systems for various reasons, and he has saved his homeland several times.

Character design

Conception

Kirby was conceived by Masahiro Sakurai, a video game designer then under HAL Laboratory's employment when designing a game for Nintendo's Game Boy. He was originally created as a blob placeholder sprite for the game, originally titled "Twinkle Popo" (ティンクル・ポポ, read Tinkuru popo). Over time, Sakurai grew fond of the placeholder sprite, and preferred it over the conception of the original protagonist of the game it was being designed for, so Kirby became the star of his first game. Despite the developers keeping Kirby's model, he was known as ポポポ (Popopo) for a time before being renamed Kirby. The game was renamed 星のカービィ (Hoshi no Kābī) meaning "Kirby of the Stars" in Japan, and became known in North America and most other parts of the world as Kirby's Dream Land.

Sakurai was deeply involved during the development of Kirby's anime known under the same name (星のカービィ Hoshi no Kābī) as Kirby's Dream Land in Japan, and dubbed under the name Kirby: Right Back at Ya! in the US. When asked about what was being considered during Kirby's design within the anime, the reply from Nintendo was that besides considering the ease of staining of colors and drawing, Kirby should instantly associate with people, be easy to remember, and easily become familiar.[1]

Name

Early artwork of Kirby

Where Kirby got his name from is not known, since Masahiro Sakurai himself has been quoted as saying he does not remember how Kirby got his name.[2] However, from within Kirby's fandom, it is believed that Kirby might have been named after the Kirby Corporation, which manufactures vacuum cleaners and suits Kirby and his inhalation abilities. The other explanation is that he might have been named in honor of Nintendo's legal counsel, John Kirby of Latham & Watkins LLP, who defended Nintendo against a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Universal Studios over the similarities of Donkey Kong to King Kong.

Shigeru Miyamoto has been quoted as saying that the latter is partially why the name Kirby was chosen from a list of candidates, although Kirby was not named after John Kirby.[3] He also noted the irony that Kirby's appearance is cute, while the start of his name is a harsh consonant, which does not conform to the Japanese common practice of matching a soft name to cute characters.

Color

Sakurai intended Kirby to be pink when he conceived his character. This was in contrast with the wishes of Shigeru Miyamoto, the head of Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development (EADS) branch who wanted Kirby to be yellow. Before Nintendo of Japan settled on Sakurai's preference of pink, the game was ported over to the United States where Nintendo of America had some confusion over just what Kirby's color was supposed to be. They ended up with the color white by basing it off his sprite's appearance on the grayscale Game Boy screen. While the Japanese box art and artwork correctly depicts Kirby as pink according to Sakurai's wishes, his artwork, cartridge label, box art, instruction booklet, and even the television advertisement for Kirby's Dream Land depicted Kirby as white in America. Fortunately, this only happened to Kirby's Dream Land as the confusion was cleared up before Kirby's Adventure was released as a direct sequel.

Miyamoto's own preference of a yellow Kirby was not entirely ignored, however, since whenever a second player plays a second Kirby, the color defaults to yellow.

Actor portrayal

Kirby is voiced by female seiyū (voice actor) Makiko Ohmoto in his games and in the Super Smash Bros. series. Her voice work for Kirby in the original Japanese version of his anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya! was not changed for the English dub by 4Kids, so she voices both versions. Ohmoto considers working on Kirby's voice and with the teams on his games and anime to be a great experience.

The educational video starring Kirby and Mario called the Mario Kirby Masterpiece in 1993 is one notable title where Kirby was not voiced by Ohmoto. Mayumi Tanaka provides Kirby's voice in that video instead.

Character

Appearance

Kirby is a small pink spherical creature with two stubby arms, two red feet, and two oval-shaped eyes with black pupils (with a faint shade of blue at the bottom starting with Kirby Super Star, which was brightened in later appearances). Kirby's cheek-blushes weren't introduced until his second game, Kirby's Adventure, where they appeared as two black whisker lines in artwork. In subsequent games until Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, they were depicted as three red diagonal lines in artwork, although they were usually always solid red ovals in-game (except Kirby's Dream Land 2, where they were missing from his sprite).

Kirby's body is soft and flexible, allowing him to flatten himself or expand like a balloon. Officially he is 20 centimeters (8 inches) tall,[4] but the Super Smash Bros. games depict his height as about three feet when compared to the other characters. His weight is not known,[4] although several parts of the anime and the Super Smash Bros. series suggest that he is light enough to be easily carried.

Kirby has no form of skeletal structure nor does he have teeth.[5] The latter is confirmed in the anime episode A Dental Dilemma, where Hardy couldn't find Kirby's teeth to clean. His appearance has changed subtly over the years, his arms and body becoming more rounded and his facial features more defined with larger eyes. The new design has been used in all subsequent games.

Age and Gender

Kirby's age[6] and gender[7] are never directly stated by Japanese sources, although this rule was initially broken when he was introduced to western audiences as a "spry little boy" in the English manual for Kirby's Dream Land. In most translations, Kirby is consistently referenced with masculine pronouns by default in subsequent games and in the anime. This would be more in line with the hint of romance between Kirby and Ribbon in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards where Ribbon gives Kirby a kiss on the cheek in the good ending, making both of them blush in embarrassment. ChuChu's crush on Kirby in the non-canon manga also implies that Kirby is a boy. In the anime, where he more or less acts like a little child, Kirby's peers Tiff and Tuff sometimes call him a "baby" (in the Japanese dub, Meta Knight implies he's a baby when he tells Tiff that he's born 200 years too early). Along with his high-pitched voice and "poyo language", it is implied that Kirby is at least young.

Personality

Kirby is largely innocent and has a cheerful demeanor and a positive attitude. He likes to help other people so much, sometimes he goes out of his way to do it; in the Dyna Blade sub-game of Kirby Super Star Ultra, he feeds Dyna Blade's chicks on his own (though expresses annoyance at Dyna Blade's chicks' constant noise-making before dragging them off to Whispy Woods to be fed by the constant dropped apples from the tree's branches) and teaches them how to fly. He has been shown to have a sense of justice, and won't spare someone who is a danger to those around him, as evidenced by his battles against final bosses. Throughout the many dangers he is put through, he is notably brave, maintaining a neutral expression almost constantly. This is especially evident in The Subspace Emissary. In the anime, he doesn't harbor dislike for anybody, in particular, not even King Dedede or Escargoon who mostly cause trouble for himself, and mostly greets everyone he meets.

While he is brave and has a sense of justice, Kirby is quick to suspect King Dedede as the culprit for mischief, such as at the beginning of Kirby Squeak Squad. In fact, Kirby has demonstrated a consistent impulsive streak throughout the series and can be as quick to start fights as he is to pass them by, fighting Dedede, Meta Knight and Dyna Blade on impulse. He also willingly responded to Dedede's call for a rematch and attacked Shadow Kirby without thinking. This recklessness can often lead him into trouble or cause him to create trouble (such as when he accidentally released Nightmare).

His personality in Kirby's Avalanche is different, where he is depicted as somewhat rude. This is especially evident with his encounter with Whispy Woods, where, despite being warned by Whispy Woods not to step on his roots, he steps on a root and then quips about wanting some apple pie. However, the game is considered non-canon.

Appetite

Kirby never hesitates to help whenever Dream Land is in trouble, but when he doesn't have his work cut out for him doing that, he loves nothing more than eating and sleeping, especially during the day. Kirby's favorite food is tomatoes, Maxim Tomatoes in particular, and these fully restore his health in the games. In the anime where tomatoes are never seen growing, Kirby gorges on watermelons instead. Kirby's appetite for food is immense (but he does have his limits); he can eat whole tables' worth of food and still go on, and partially eat a cake as large as a mountain, as shown from a cutscene in Kirby's Epic Yarn, where he and Prince Fluff had an eating contest.

While it is undeniable that Kirby adores eating, it is not certain whether he enjoys the act of eating or the taste of food. Kirby has preference over certain foods but he eats just about everything, including those most would deem unpalatable e.g. an item called "rotten pumpkin" in the games. In the anime, since Cappies know about this attribute of his, they invite him to dinner whenever they have leftover food, and Tuggle often gives whole piles of expired food for him to finish. While the Cappies do it for their convenience more than for Kirby's benefit, Kirby doesn't realize nor seem to mind, and the expired food doesn't do him any harm. Even food hot enough to make people breathe fire The Hot Shot Chef doesn't seem to bother him one bit, but anything truly disgusting, like Belly Buster's pies in the anime, Mariels in Kirby's Dream Land 3, or Whispy's poison apples, Kirby would understandably hate or be hurt by.

Speech

Kirby is a character of few words and rarely speaks in-game. Much of his speech is indirect, in the form of speech bubbles or monologues in games' instruction manuals, and brief greetings such as "Hi" in games including Super Smash Bros. and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Story-wise, if Kirby is depicted as talking to another character, it is often in the form of text panels or narration. Kirby is depicted as rude and smart-alecky in the American-made spin-off of the Puyo Puyo genre titled Kirby's Avalanche, but despite being developed by HAL Laboratory, it was never released in Japan, and is not considered to be canon.

In the anime, Masahiro Sakurai insisted early in the development process that Kirby would not speak in the anime series, as it makes the character more endearing and easier for people to relate to. The most common thing Kirby says in the anime is "Poyo", which is meaningless, but it allows him to use his voice in such a way that it conveys his emotions without actually saying anything meaningful, as illustrated here. Kirby does occasionally say the names of his special attacks in the Japanese version, the names of certain foods, and sometimes repeats names and certain words he hears, such as yuki (snow) or suika (watermelon).

In contrast with his usual speaking habits, Kirby loves to sing when he gets the Mike ability. Mike Kirby's amplified voice is devastating to enemies (and friends in the anime); one good bout of singing actually reduces King Dedede's Castle to rubble in the episode Abusement Park. Although the reaction from Kirby's audience suggests that his singing is bad to downright unbearable, Kirby never seems to realize it and enjoys himself regardless.

In the anime

Kirby's personality in the anime is either very alike or very unlike his personality in the games. He retains some of his old traits, like his cute playfulness and tendency to do good and reveals new facets of himself. He is shown to be very loving towards his robotic dog in Kirby's Pet Peeve and being very determined, like not giving up when fighting Meta Knight in Kirby's Duel Role.

Kirby is also more or less dimwitted in the anime, like enjoying Channel DDD when the program he is watching is insulting and humiliating him, probably because he doesn't understand that insulting him is the whole point of the show, and he finds the antics Dedede does with the hand puppet supposed to resemble him to be funny. He is a good sport when it comes to people laughing at him, usually because he realizes what he had done was genuinely humorous after a while. The Pillow Case.

In the episode Kirby Takes the Cake, Kirby's flashbacks show his inner side, where certain people (besides food) can mean a lot to him. When they don't treat him as well as they usually do, and he doesn't know why, he doesn't voice his thoughts or blame them, but he can get very upset about himself.

It is revealed in Beware: Whispy Woods! and Don't Bank on It that whatever Kirby eats enters some sort of dimension. In Beware: Whispy Woods!, Kirby travels inside himself and handles the things he swallowed. He also can cause himself to spit out select items that he ate, such as Whispy's apple.

Tiff deduces that Kirby may have been a monster created by Nightmare Enterprises during a conversation between Tuff, herself, and Kabu in Kirby's Duel Role, but no other event in the series or the games either confirms or denies this possibility.

Other aspects

Kirby is shown to have an impulsive side to him, such as when he accuses Dedede of interfering with the Fountain of Dreams in Kirby's Adventure, and then leaves to retrieve the pieces of the shattered Star Rod without even letting Dedede explain himself. This personality feature of his is also an important plot element in Kirby: Squeak Squad, where Kirby immediately blames King Dedede for the theft of his Strawberry Shortcake without any proof, then later on releases Dark Nebula from a Treasure Chest that he thinks contains his missing cake. Despite his impulsiveness, he is relatively intelligent, evidenced in his systematic destruction of the Halberd in Revenge of Meta Knight and his general resourcefulness in The Subspace Emissary. He is also eager to help everyone who isn't a clear enemy, a part of his innocent personality that is exploited by somecharacters.

When it comes to food, Kirby can be so focused on eating it that he puts his own safety aside, such as in the episode Cooking Up Trouble. It takes great effort for him to resist eating food already in his hands, but he does have a degree of restraint on himself that makes Tiff proud when reminded of the more important things, however Delivery Dilemma.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, his trophy profile states that he is an "extremely skilled technician" but Kirby himself is never seen doing anything particularly technical.

Abilities

Inhale

Kirby's signature technique is his inhale and has been performing it since Kirby's Dream Land. It is available in almost every standard Kirby platformer with the exception of Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby Mass Attack. Kirby: Squeak Squad's manual attributes this ability to his "powerful lungs", although all Kirby is ever seen doing is opening his mouth really wide and sucking up lots of air in the manner resembling a vacuum cleaner more than breathing. Traditionally, Kirby's inhale is unlimited in duration, but in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, he tires after inhaling for several seconds and has to take a short break. Kirby's Super Inhale is also introduced in the game, where, after inhaling for about a second, it becomes more powerful and can suck up larger objects. The Super Inhale returns in Kirby: Squeak Squad, and becomes even more powerful in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, where he can suck up stone blocks and many enemies at once. In the same game, Kirby can inhale other Kirbys to steal their Copy Ability. In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby gains an ability known as Hypernova by touching a Miracle Fruit, which allows him to inhale things as large as trees or move things made of stone or metal more than twice his size. Hypernova allows Kirby to inhale almost anything and send it back. In all games except Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby cannot inhale underwater.

Copy Ability

After inhaling anything, Kirby has the option to either swallow it or spit it back out as a Star Spit attack. Starting from Kirby's Adventure onwards, Kirby gets a Copy Ability should the player choose to swallow an enemy with a special power. In Kirby's Adventure, Copy Abilities essentially let Kirby mimic whatever the enemy he had just swallowed, but in later titles like Kirby Super Star, each Copy Ability has multiple moves which Kirby can perform instead of just one or two. In Kirby 64, Kirby can combine Copy Abilities by inhaling two enemies at once or throwing Ability Stars at enemies.

In early games, having a Copy Ability does not change Kirby's appearance drastically, aside from his color changing to orange or cyan in Kirby's Adventure, or wielding a weapon for abilities like Sword or Hammer. Kirby Super Star introduced a continuous Vitality system instead of the traditional six bars of life, and is best known for introducing copy ability hats for Kirby, where most Copy Abilities give a different hat and makes Kirby look different, such as a burning headdress for Fire, a frozen crown for Ice, or a backwards baseball cap for Yo-Yo and Wheel. While the hats are absent after their introduction in the games Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64, both of which are incidentally not designed by Masahiro Sakurai, they are featured consistently in later titles.

Kirby Super Star also introduces the Helper system where Kirby could sacrifice a Copy Ability to create a Helper, an allied version of the enemy he had previously swallowed. Helpers have the same function as Gooey in Kirby's Dream Land 3. The new Helper would be controlled by the game or a second player. This feature has not yet been included in later Kirby games, although it was included in Kirby Super Star's remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra. Helpers were meant to be included in the unreleased game, Kirby GCN, where Kirby could summon three at once.

Since Copy Abilities are only present in Kirby's Adventure and most games after that, in Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby uses the inhale solely for the Star Spit attack. There are certain power-ups which he can collect, such as a Mint Leaf (Sweet potato in Japan) which lets him shoot out unlimited and more powerful air pellets for a limited time, and Superspicy Curry, which has the same effect, but lets him shoot fireballs instead of air pellets. Kirby can collect food or other special items like lollipops that grant him beneficial effects such as healing or temporary invincibility.

Other techniques

Kirby has a soft, flexible body. This allows him to be flattened or stretched, always returning to his original shape. He can inflate himself, making himself more buoyant, and he can flap his arms to fly. In most games, he can do this indefinitely. He can exhale to deflate himself and use the exhaled air as an attack. This technique is known as the air gun/air bullet. In certain games — Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, the Super Smash Bros. series, and Kirby Air Ride — Kirby's ability to fly or float is limited.

When underwater, most of Kirby's Copy Abilities do not work, and he is largely limited to using the water gun attack, where he shoots a bubble of water in one of four directions (or a constant spray in some games), unless he happens to have Sword, Hammer, Parasol, or a few other abilities which can be used underwater. The water gun works just like the air gun, but Kirby does not need to inhale beforehand. In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, having the Water ability strengthens Kirby's water gun attack by having it reach farther and do more damage to enemies. In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby can inhale underwater.

In all games after Kirby's Adventure, Kirby can do a move known as the slide kick or slide attack while crouching as a basic attack that does minor damage. In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and Kirby: Squeak Squad, if Kirby does a slide kick facing down a steep incline, he will roll down and over any enemies in his way. The slide kick is useless against most bosses and mid-bosses.

In Kirby Super Star (and its remake), Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby has the guard move, which allows him to protect himself from enemy attacks, and take little to no damage. When playing with multiple players in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, the team attack, which sends out a large ball of energy, is performed by two or more characters guarding and releasing their guard at the same time after a set amount of time while riding piggyback.

He can also perform the normal beam in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra near Helpers to revert them to an item state, which Kirby can inhale to reacquire the Copy Ability for himself. In the same games, he can get rid of his ability and toss it as an item, which Helpers can touch to claim that ability, which also saves the Helper from dying if they have run out of health.

Kirby Super Star and recent games have a feature where Kirby and other playable characters can share food with each other to restore health in a motion that resembles kissing. This is done by one character touching a recovery item, and touching another player within the next few seconds. It became a popular topic to parody in the Japanese manga series, and the 4Koma panels have a running gag about Kirby and Bonkers kissing each other when one is at critical health. The Kirby Super Star Ultra booklet refers to it as face-to-face food transfer.

In Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby can summon Gooey, who has the same function as Helpers in later games. Summoning Gooey sacrifices one of Kirby's pegs of health and makes his maximum health four pegs instead of five. Kirby can inhale Gooey again whenever he likes to restore one peg of health.

In the anime, Kirby is an astonishingly fast runner. In Dark and Stormy Knight, he could run fast enough to skim across water and get over to the horizon within seconds. It is also explained in the episode Beware: Whispy Woods! that whatever Kirby consumes enters another dimension. Kirby can also run a lot faster than usual in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra's Gourmet Race, as can King Dedede.

Species

Kirby's species has been a common topic of debate in his fandom. Unlike many other video game mascots, such as Link being Hylian or Pikachu being a Pokémon, Kirby's kind has never been given an official name, but fans commonly refer to his species as "puffs," such as puffballs or cream puffs, or simply as "a Kirby." While Kirby is the one given the most emphasis, he is not the only member of his kind. There is evidence of the existence of other members of his species from the similar-looking characters seen in the ending of Kirby's Dream Land and the remake Spring Breeze in Kirby Super Star. While not officially confirmed, Meta Knight is a likely member due to almost identical facial features to Kirby aside from color and minor differences. In Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land and Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, players play different colored Kirbys in multi-player games. In the case of the latter, they are the result of Kirby being divided into four by Dark Meta Knight. In general, members of the species all look similar, but sometimes have different colored skin, eyes, and feet.

When not referring to Kirby's species in the generic sense, the term "Kirbys" (occasionally "Kirbies") usually refers to only one character, who is none other than Kirby himself. Although he may be split into multiple separate entities, they are all part of him. In the English manual of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, the term "Kirbys" is used at certain points to illustrate the feature of having four differently colored versions of Kirby active in the game simultaneously. In Kirby Air Ride, since the other colors of Kirby are separate individuals, and the term refers to all of them.

Largely attributed to misinterpretation of the English dub of the anime, Kirby's race is sometimes taken as Star Warrior. That is a common, but incorrect understanding, and understandable since other characters say something along the lines of "Kirby is a Star Warrior" quite often. Kirby's species is not Star Warrior or Warp Star Knight or Warp Star Warrior. "Star Warrior" is a term used in the anime series to describe a group of legendary warriors from many races. The terms "Warp Star Knight" and "Warp Star Warrior" have only ever been used in advertisements where it is translated even less accurately, and the terms are never used in any game or the anime.

In Kirby's Dream Land 3, mysterious characters called Batamon appear. They resemble Kirby aside from a more flattened shape and different face and are unique in that the player can almost never directly come in contact with them. They are always seen walking past walls or ceilings beyond Kirby's reach, with the exception of a single stage in Cloudy Park, where Kirby can continue past the exit and come into contact with one.

Kirbys

In single player where additional Kirbys are controlled by the CPU, all the Kirbys existing simultaneously are part of Kirby himself with the exception of Kirby Air Ride, so each of them helps each other out, and share food with each other. In multiplayer and in certain sub-games such as Bomb Rally, the Kirbys exhibit some sort of friendly rivalry since such is the nature of the sub-games, although certain activities they partake in like crashing Air Ride Machines into each other and tossing bombs to each other to see who it explodes on don't look particularly "friendly". In Kirby's Dream Course's multiplayer, Kirby and Keeby compete with each other to enter the golf hole first. In any case, Kirbys are never seen harboring ill intentions towards each other.

King Dedede

King Dedede is Kirby's arch-enemy and ally, and there is a long-standing grudge and some sort of love-hate relationship between the two of them which is developed throughout the many games in the series. In the games, King Dedede is not as narrow-minded as he is in the anime, but he does have his faults. Incidentally, many of King Dedede's pranks involve stealing something associated with stars; he stole all the stars from Dream Land's skies in Kirby's Dream Course, took one of Mr. Star's pieces for himself in Kirby's Super Star Stacker, stole Dream Landers' Sparkling Stars and hid them away, and broke the Star Rod in Kirby's Adventure and its remake, which makes for some sort of irony between Kirby and his relationship with Dedede since Stars are strongly associated with Kirby.

The reasons for him doing so is not always obvious (there usually is one), but sometimes just boils down to plain selfishness or the fact that he just wants to cause trouble, such as provoking an exhausted Kirby to race with him in Gourmet Race. The few times Dedede acts plain evil is when he was under possession of some sort. The other times where King Dedede and Kirby come to disagreement is when Dedede takes action in his own outrageous methods, such as breaking the Star Rod, but then decides to take a bath in the Dream Fountain's waters, and Kirby didn't let King Dedede fully explain himself before undoing what the King did for a good reason.

Despite their occasional and brief bouts of animosity, Dedede holds a begrudging respect to Kirby, but it doesn't stop Dedede from trying to best Kirby in combat or settle their grudge, and he goes to great lengths in Revenge of the King in Kirby Super Star Ultra to do so.

King Dedede is a lot more hostile to Kirby in the Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. In the majority of the episodes, for some reason he tolerates Kirby's presence in his castle with Tiff, Tuff, Sir Ebrum, and Lady Like, but never ceases to think about new ways to get rid of the pink puff. It wasn't until near the end of the entire series in D'Preciation Day when he reveals that he has the same respect he has for Kirby in the games, where he weeps his heart out thinking he really killed Kirby by going too far with his schemes to exacerbate the rivalry between the two of them.

Meta Knight

What Meta Knight intends to do with Kirby is often unpredictable. In Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, he appears to want to stop Kirby as much as everybody else since King Dedede had entrusted him with a piece of the Star Rod, and sends his Meta-Knights every now and then against Kirby, but sometimes tosses him a rare Invincibility Candy instead. In later games, Meta Knight's motivations are often clearly for the betterment of Dream Land when the plot becomes clear at the end, but sometimes still brings Kirby and himself into conflict with each other since Meta Knight doesn't tend to explain himself. While Kirby ends up fighting Meta Knight for whatever reason, Meta Knight always tosses Kirby a sword to arm himself with beforehand.

The only time where Meta Knight plays the role of a villain is during the events of Revenge of Meta Knight, a sub-game in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra. He powers up the Halberd and attempts to take over Dream Land for himself to end the lazy lifestyle of Dream Landers by force. Kirby foils his plans and sends the Halberd to the bottom of Orange Ocean, but despite Meta Knight's great personal loss, he doesn't appear to harbour any misgivings toward Kirby in their future encounters, and if he did, he does not show it.

In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Meta Knight is a Star Warrior like Kirby, and his goal is to guide the pink puff towards mastery of his abilities so the two of them can confront Nightmare one day. In fact, Meta Knight became King Dedede's servant after the great war against Nightmare so he can secretly build the Halberd and wait for a young Star Warrior to come by. Sometimes Dedede orders him to fight Kirby, and he does, if only to test the limits of Kirby's skill. His methods can be harsh, as pointed out by Tiff, but since it is the only instance of Star Warrior training, it is not known whether all of them train using such methods, which are arguably effective.

Gooey

Gooey is a blob of friendly Dark Matter. With the exception of cutscenes in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby is mostly solitary, but he is seen fishing together with Gooey during the introduction of Kirby's Dream Land 3 before the Dark Matter invasion so Gooey is probably one of his closer friends.

Gooey was first seen in Kirby's Dream Land 2, but his role was minimal; he is sometimes found in a sack after a mid-boss fight and only serves to heal Kirby when eaten. In Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby can summon Gooey like a Helper at the cost of 2 hitpoints; the CPU or second player controls Gooey, or Kirby can swallow Gooey for the 2 hitpoints at any time, which makes Gooey seem like some sort of food to Kirby as well as being his friend.

Tiff

Tiff is a character only in the anime, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. She is the first person Kirby meets after crashing on Popstar. Tiff was intrigued by the whole notion of a Star Warrior and the fact that one is coming to Cappy Town, but Kirby's initial impression wasn't quite what she expected. After Kirby saves her from falling to her death in a ravine, she quickly warms up to him.

Most of the time, Tiff is like an older sibling to Kirby, although she refers to him as a friend. She helps him settle into Cappy Town and protects him from Kirby's other peers (Tuff, Iroo, Spikehead, and Honey) who are often less considerate about his age and capabilities. She is the one who suggested building Kirby a house after King Dedede sabotages her efforts in finding Kirby a place to stay. As Kirby is too young to summon the Warp Star for himself, Tiff is the only one who can do it for him as she loves him the most.

While she is friendly to most other people, especially to Kirby, she is slow to forgive and even slower to forget when it comes to King Dedede and Escargoon's schemes. Her intellect and past history with Dedede would often make her suspect that the King is up to no good when other people may believe what he said, and her efforts in discovering more about his plans make Kirby's eventual fight against the monster(s) a lot easier. She occasionally gets impatient with Kirby's inability to fend for himself in the mildest of situations, however, and sometimes gets fed up with him if only because her own temper got the better of her.

She had suspicions that Meta Knight's agenda was in line with King Dedede's at the start, but it was proven to be false when Meta Knight saves Kirby and herself several times. For the most part, she values the explanations Meta Knight can give about Kirby's abilities and the Warp Star, but she takes issue with Meta Knight's harsh methods to improve Kirby's capabilities, which involve Kirby literally fighting for his life.

Appearances

Games

Kirby stars in all the games in the Kirby series, most of which are platformers.

He hails from Planet Popstar, where he lives in a dome-shaped house in Dream Land. He is the hero of Dream Land, which he usually has to save from whatever evil that attacks it, sometimes traveling to other lands or planets to do so. Often, near the end of the game Kirby gains a Final Weapon that he must fight the main villain with.

Anime

Kirby in the anime

In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby is a legendary Star Warrior who was sent across the galaxy from an unknown location, meant to sleep in his space ship for a certain number of years before awakening to confront whatever evil there is. However, as Kirby's space ship nears Popstar, it detects monsters of King Dedede bought from Nightmare Enterprises and warps towards it. This wakes Kirby 200 years too early, and since he does not yet know how to control his space ship, it crash lands on Popstar, and Kirby is thrust into the midst of King Dedede and Escargoon's schemes and faces an impending invasion by Nightmare's army of monsters.

As mentioned previously, Masahiro Sakurai intended Kirby to be largely mute in the anime. In the Japanese version, Kirby usually only says "Poyo", although he sometimes says names and has a limited vocabulary. In The Meal Moocher, Kirby could say "kani" (crab). In "Shell-Shocked", Kirby could say "Nyūin" (hospitalized). In the English dub, Kirby could say "Name, Tiff", "Tuff", "Fololo and Falala", "Chilly", "Fofa", and "Dedede". Ohmoto's voice work for Kirby calling out the names of his attacks are removed in the dub.

Manga and Comics

Kirby stars in several manga series, none of which have been released outside Japan.[8] The second-longest running of these series is titled Kirby of the Stars: The Story of Dedede Who Lives In Pupupu, written by Hirokazu Hikawa and published in May 1995.[9] Other Kirby manga are typically one-shot comedy 4koma (four-panel manga) based on the games and have multiple artists. They have recurring themes and running gags despite having different creators.

A few German comics released in the Nintendo Power magazines there feature Kirby as a detective and King Dedede as his friend. Kirby is friends with a blue fish (not Kine but looks similar), an informant who works at the Blue Fish Bar with fellow blue fish. His Animal FriendsRick, Coo, and Kine appear in the German comics as pets of a female Kirby look-alike with a red bow and what appears to be a pair of red high heels, ostensibly one of Kirby's girlfriends. In one comic, he meets Lolo, Lala, and Lulu, the stars of HAL Laboratory's Adventures of Lolo series. These comics were advertisements for Kirby games that would be released in Germany.

In the Super Smash Bros. series

Kirby's colors in Super Smash Bros. Note that his green color is only available for Team Battles and can not be chosen for Free-For-Alls.

Kirby's Colors in Super Smash Bros. Melee

Kirby's Colors in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Kirby's Colors in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

Kirby has appeared in every Super Smash Bros. game so far. He retains many of his abilities from his own series, such as being able to inhale his enemies, and using Copy Abilities (like Fighter, Backdrop/Suplex, Ninja, Stone, Hammer, and Yo-Yo) without having to copy them from enemies.

Kirby can inflate himself and float in this game, but he can only flap his arms six times before it appears that all the excess air leaves his body and he falls. He cannot float again until after touching the ground. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, along with Jigglypuff and Mr. Game & Watch, Kirby is a character whose appearance doesn't change from Super Smash Bros. Melee.

After Kirby inhales another fighter, he can swallow them by pressing down or B, which grants him a hat or costume, and use of the swallowed character's neutral special move in place of his own neutral special move. Most of these abilities contain references to the Copy Abilities Kirby obtains in his games; for example, Bowser's Fire Breath and Charizard's Flamethrower work just like the Fire ability, the Ice Climbers parka looks like the one Kirby wears with the Freeze ability, and R.O.B.'s Laser ricochets off slopes, just like Laser ability.

If Kirby inhales and swallows another Kirby, it only does minor damage, but if he swallows another Kirby with an ability, he will steal it. Other abilities like Stone and Fighter are incorporated into his regular attacks.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, he received two new attacks: a dash attack based on the Burning ability, and an attack where he swings a large hammer, similar to the Hammer ability. The latter is his side special, a fourth special attack introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Ninja and Suplex moves seem to be incorporated into Kirby's grabs and throws. The Cook ability is Kirby's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

In the first Super Smash Bros. game, Kirby is ranked 2nd out of 12 on the tier list, just above Fox, due to his fast dash speed, excellent recovery, small size, and ability to copy the moves of others, making him one of the best characters in the game. However, this was not the case in the sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee, as he was severely reduced in power in said game; his speed went from above average to below average, and his attacks were changed and greatly weakened. He is now placed in 25/26th, last place, (tied with Pichu) for the worst character in the game.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kirby's attacks were once again changed, this time for the better. He is one of the faster characters, retains his great recovery jumps, and has a very good Final Smash. He is placed 20th out of 38 on the tier list.

Kirby plays a rather prominent role in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's story mode, the Subspace Emissary. In the beginning, a trophy of Mario and Kirby are thrown into an arena, where they come to life and spar. After the battle, the victor revives the fallen loser, and the two fighters celebrate and happily wave to the crowd when suddenly, dark clouds fill the sky and the Halberd appears. It drops many small, dark spheres into the stadium, which then combine to form several Primids. Peach and Zelda, who were watching their match, both come to their aid. After the battle, the Ancient Minister appears and drops a giant Subspace Bomb into the stadium. Two R.O.B.s appear and arm the bomb as the Ancient Minister flies back to the retreating Halberd. As Mario runs to stop the bomb, he, Kirby, Peach, and Zelda hear a loud noise behind them. A cannonball is fired at Mario from a cloud of smoke and he is blasted out of the stadium. As Kirby watches Mario fly into the distance, the two princesses are caged by Petey Piranha. Kirby then faces off against Petey, but can only save one princess (chosen by the player). Wario appears just as Kirby defeats Petey, carrying a giant gun called the Dark Cannon, which he uses to turn the princess Kirby didn't save into a trophy. He then escapes with the trophy, and as Kirby and the remaining princess begin to chase after him, Kirby sees that the Subspace Bomb is about to explode. As it does, they flee the Midair Stadium via a Warp Star. As they are flying away, the Halberd runs into them, they fall off the Warp Star and onto the Halberd. Soon after, Fox, in an Arwing, is hit by the Halberd's claw, forcing it to crash land on the Halberd. It flies past Kirby and the princess, blowing them off of the Halberd.

Kirby's introduction to the Subspace Emissary.

Later, on the ground, Kirby sees something and runs ahead, leaving the princess behind. She is then turned confronted by Bowser, turned into a trophy by his Dark Cannon, and a dark clone of Bowser possesses her trophy form. The princess, now turned into a dark version of herself, attempts to shoot at a pair of characters (Mario and Pit if Kirby saved Peach, or Link and Yoshi if he saved Zelda) with a Dark Cannon, but Link/Pit (Link if Kirby saved Peach, or Pit if Kirby saved Zelda) stops her by cutting the Dark Cannon in half. Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi then fight and defeat the princess, turning her into a trophy, and upon seeing their fallen princess as they pass, Mario attacks Link (or Link attacks Mario), but the pair of characters who defeated the princess win. Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi, now in trophy form, are grabbed by the arm of a cargo, driven by King Dedede (which he stole from Wario), which also has Zelda/Peach, Luigi, and Ness, in their trophy forms. Suddenly, Kirby appears from behind and uses Final Cutter to sever the arm, and revives Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi. When Dedede attempts to escape, Pit/Link fires an arrow at his cargo, and the five pursue Dedede to save their friends.

Eventually, they find a cave that Dedede's cargo is parked by, and after getting through, they find Dedede's hideout. Upon exploring his hideout, which was already invaded by Bowser, they see a hole in the wall and decide to enter it. They then find Bowser on a cliff, who escapes to the Halberd after avoiding Mario and Pit's attacks. After the scuffle, however, Kirby finds a mysterious badge that fell off Zelda/Peach's trophy.

Some time after that, Kirby and the others find the Ancient Minister in a desert. Despite their best efforts against him and his R.O.B.s, the bomb still explodes, and they narrowly escape the blast, with Kirby flying away on his Warp Star as Link and Pit cling on to either side. Kirby and the others then aid Marth, Ike, Lucas, the Ice Climbers, and the Pokémon Trainer in warding off the Subspace Army troops that had come to face them on a mountain.

After defeating them, the Falcon Flyer and the Halberd (now under Meta Knight's control) land on the mountain, the characters inside the ships join Kirby and the others. The Subspace Gunship, commanded by Bowser and Ganondorf, appears out of Subspace, and fires a Subspace beam into the distance. The Halberd appears, with all the heroes on board, but the Subspace Gunship soon destroys it. Fortunately, the heroes continue toward the Subspace Gunship in an Arwing, the Falcon Flyer, Samus's Ship, and the Hocotate Ship. Kirby then appears on the Dragoon and flies through the Subspace Gunship, destroying it. Ganondorf and Bowser retreat into subspace and Kirby and the rest follow.

When they confront Tabuu, who had already turned Ganondorf into a trophy (after he turned Bowser into a trophy) and defeated Master Hand, he unleashes an attack that turns everyone, including Kirby, into a trophy. However, Kirby is "revived by hunger". Dedede's badge, which he had eaten upon finding it earlier, was set to revive a fallen character after a set amount of time. After going through Subspace alone and reviving some of the fighters along the way, Kirby finds Ganondorf's trophy. Before he can do anything, Bowser appears and attacks Ganondorf's trophy in revenge for turning him into a trophy earlier, before tossing it aside and stomping away. King Dedede then tackles Kirby and hugs him. Dedede points to Tabuu and drags Kirby along to confront him. Kirby then helps the others defeat Tabuu and save the world from subspace.

Kirby has one of the most important roles in the Subspace Emissary, as he revives everyone after they are defeated by Tabuu in Subspace. He's also the most-used character story wise, likely to give credit to Masahiro Sakurai, Kirby and Super Smash Bros.'s creator.

Final Smash

His Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is Cook. It works in exactly the same way as it does in the Kirby series. Kirby puts on a chef's hat and "rings" a frying pan. Enemies and items within range (and any Pokémon or characters from assist trophies) are sucked into the pot and cooked. After adding salt, sugar, pepper, etc. into the pot, the opponents are thrown upwards out of the pot as random items fly out with them.

His Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U is Ultra Sword. It functions similarly to Link or Ike's in that it captures a foe/foes and unleashes a flurry of attacks on them while they're unable to move. Kirby dons the Ultra Sword hat upon activating his Final Smash and lays into his opponent several times, very quickly, with the Ultra Sword before the sword grows in size and Kirby delivers a finishing blow. However, it does approximately the same amount of damage as Cook Kirby, dealing 38%.

Related Quotes

“

The 8-inch high Kirby hails from a distant, peaceful star. Like his simplistic appearance, he is an easily-understood character. True to his instincts, Kirby eats when he gets hungry and sleeps as soon as he grows tired. Nevertheless, Kirby remains a formidable opponent. In addition to his distinct flight and swallowing skills, he also has the ability to copy enemy attacks for ever-changing action.”

A denizen of the far-off, peaceful planet Pop Star, Kirby became a citizen of Dream Land after defeating King Dedede. Even though he's only about eight inches tall, Kirby is an extremely skilled technician. He has the unique ability to absorb the powers of his enemies, and his elastic body makes him a versatile adventurer.”

Kirby's small size lets him dodge many attacks, but his light weight makes him fly far when struck. Using his ability to inflate, he can jump five times. His Swallow attack creates wild combos; not only can he copy foes' moves, but he'll also put on special hats and mimic their voices. His Hammer is unwieldy but powerful.”

— Trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Melee

“

Because of his light weight, Kirby is always in danger of being sent flying, but his ability to puff up and fly allows him to come back from amazing distances. His Final Cutter strikes on the way up and on the way down, and it sends out a beam of force upon landing. Kirby transforms into various objects and crashes down when he uses his Stone technique.”

— Trophy description • Super Smash Bros. Melee

“

A round, pink ball of cuteness from a distant, peaceful star. He can swallow anything with his gigantic mouth, then spit it out as ammo. He has the handy ability to copy powers and use them as his own. His hovering ability lets him fly through the air with ease. He's so round, he's sometimes treated like a ball.”

Round little Kirby lives on the peaceful Planet Popstar, in Dream Land. He can inhale things with his big mouth, either copying their abilities or spitting them out again. In Smash Bros., Kirby can inhale opponents and copy their standard specials. He gets launched easily but recovers well.”

Holding the special button and left or right will charge up Kirby's Hammer Flip attack. Charging too long hurts Kirby! The hammer strikes twice in the air, but landing the single blow on the ground is more powerful. Kirby's up special Final Cutter slices up and down, firing a shock wave upon landing.”

While not affiliated with anyone in particular, Kirby has been depicted as having a romantic relationship with Ribbon in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, where she gives Kirby a kiss in the good ending. Kirby, lovestruck, twirls about happily, loses his balance and falls down a set of stairs. The official manga depicts ChuChu having a crush on Kirby as well, but the content is not considered to be canon.

Kirby appears in Star Pics in AR Games as a card packaged with the ? Block card and the other characters, who are also cards. If the AR Games application is used and, in Star Pics, if the Nintendo 3DS camera detects said card, then Kirby emerges from the card. The normal pose is on the card, but the poses can be switched to Kirby drawing himself, riding on a Warp Star, Kirby with his Parasol ability, and finally, Kirby running.